First off let me start by saying that Spain is still as amazing as ever. I’m so in love with everything about it, it’s unreal. I can’t imagine leaving this place. Life is still very good. On Saturday I went to my host brother’s second birthday party at Rocio’s parents’ house. They live at the very top of an apartment building in Plaza de Los Luceros, which is one of the most busiest parts of downtown Alicante. It was a very nice location and her family was very welcoming.
When I first arrived to her parents’ house I was a little overwhelmed. She has four sisters who all have husbands and kids so it was a lot to deal with at first. Everyone wanted to meet me and ask me questions and NO ONE spoke English. It was a great learning experience and I got more of a feel for a traditional Spanish family life. It was great to watch everyone interact with each other. They are so loving toward each other, it’s great.
The food at the party was to-die-for. First we started off with salads. There were three types. A tuna salad that reminded me of what we eat at home but it had cheese, hard-boiled eggs, onions and raisins in it. A fish salad that I can’t even describe and a regular green salad but they put corn, avocados, garbanzo beans and other stuff I wouldn’t normally have on a green salad. Then, for the second course, we had this rice dish with fluffly eggs and sausage on top of it. It was something I’ve never had and absolutely divine. It kind of looked like homemade macaroni and cheese with dumplings on top of it. To finish it off we had cake, of course. Some sort of chocolate mousse cake, but better!
The past couple of days it’s been crazy thunder and lightning storms, which is weird because Rocio was telling me that it only rains about 10-20 days a year in Alicante. Needless to say, no beach time for me this weekend. I’ve also made some really great friends here already, it’s great to meet such down-to-earth, nice people that I can share this experience with. I’ve been hanging out with a couple of the same girls a lot lately and it’s been so much fun.
The night life here in Spain is completely different than it is in the States, and even in other parts of Europe I feel like. Bars and clubs close around 3:30 a.m. but then there’s discotecas that stay open til’ 8 a.m.! It’s nuts. I definitely can’t keep up. It’s been awesome though to hang around Spanish people my age and to try to talk and interact with them. I’ve even been mistaken as a Spaniard, so cool!
School again tomorrow, I liked only having three days of it last week. Now it’s time for real life, with five full days of classes. I’ve already had a lot of homework too because of the extensive language class that moves VERY quickly. I like it though. Plus, the rest of the Spanish students start their first day of classes tomorrow, so it will be much busier on campus. I’m excited to see more new faces.
I better wrap this up. I’ve got homework and dinner to attend to. Until next time…
